Yale Bulletin and Calendar

March 19, 2004|Volume 32, Number 22

Conference to consider
'The Future of Secularism'

An international conference on "The Future of Secularism" will take place Friday-Saturday, March 26-27, at Yale.

The conference will explore questions about the separation of religion from the state and the implications of the rise of theocratic states and the opposition to secularism in democracies. It will also examine whether secularism was imposed on societies with no secular traditions by charismatic founding leaders such as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Gamal Abdul-Nasser, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sukarno and Josip Tito, and whether it came under threat after their demise.

"There cannot be a more timely moment to discuss these issues which have enormous implications for political and economic life," says T.N. Srinivasan, the Samuel C. Park Jr. Professor of Economics and chair of the South Asian Studies Council, who convened the conference. Understanding the political and religious tensions over secularism, he adds, is central to understanding current crises in the Middle East, the Indian sub-continent, Southeast Asia and the Balkan states.

The 20th century was marked by conscious attempts to insulate the state and the public sphere from the private practices of religion, says Srinivasan, but those attempts to create secular states are now under threat. Geo-politics such as the fall of the Soviet empire is one cause for the decline of secularism, he contends, but there are other political and ideological forces at work as well.

In addition to considering the status of secularism, the conference participants will probe the implications of rising religiosity in political life for economic liberalism and globalization and consider viable options for national and international institutions to diffuse the threat.

The presenters will include internationally renowned scholars on secularism in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey and the former Yugoslavia, as well as discussants from the Yale faculty. The latter will include Abbas Amanat, Faisal Devji, Michael Holquist, Gustav Ranis, Lamen Sanneh and Shyam Sunder.

"The Future of Secularism" is sponsored by the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Fund and the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, with support from the South Asian Studies Council and the Council on Middle East Studies at the Yale Center for International and Area Studies.

All conference events will take place at the Roland Betts House, 393 Prospect St. A complete schedule of conference activities is available at www.yale.edu/ycias/southasia/events/secularism.htm.

The conference is free and open to the public, but advanced registration is required. To register, send e-mail to south.asia@yale.edu or call (203) 432-5596.

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